If you didn't watch the action at the final four tables of the
World Series of Poker main event last year, you missed some great verbal sparring between Jeffrey Lisandro and Prahlad Friedman. Here's a brief synopsis of what happened:
The pot was short an ante, which is nothing abnormal, especially in hold'em tournaments, as hold'em generally has no ante. Some guy usually says, "It was probably me," and throws in the missing ante; problem solved. At least most of the time it would have been solved. This particular time, Prahlad decided to tell the gentleman who anted that he was already up, and it was in fact Jeff who wasn't up.
Jeff asked Prahlad if he was 100 percent sure that it was him, and Prahlad kept insisting that it was. No one seemed to have a problem but Prahlad, who just wouldn't let it go. He must have accused Jeff of shorting the pot 50 times before a floorman was finally called over to intercede in what was becoming a full-blown international incident. The floorman ordered the issue closed and left, but Prahlad still kept going on and on.
He went as far as telling Jeff, "I don't trust you, sir!" Those are pretty strong words to say to a professional gambler. Jeff is a well-known player in the higher-limit games around the world, especially in Los Angeles and Vegas. He sometimes even finds his way into the "big game" in Bobby's Room. I've played with Jeff for many years, and have never heard a hint of him being a disreputable player in any form.
When Prahlad just refused to stop, the floorman was once again called over to put an end to this nonsense. Prahlad ranted and raved as the players stepped away from the table to discuss the issue. Jeff asked over and over, "Are you going to stop?" This didn't even slow the verbal barrage.
Finally, Jeff said to Prahlad, "If you say it one more time, I'm going to take your head off!" Personally, I was surprised that Jeff had held his temper this long. At this, announcer Norman Chad said, "First, Prahlad was out of line; now, Jeff is out of line."
Now that we've seen what happened, I'd like to ask you the reader a few questions. First, was Norman Chad right that Jeff was out of line for threatening Prahlad? Second, why did Prahlad refuse to stop his accusation and go on and on? And, finally, what should the
World Series of Poker staff have done to defuse the situation?
First off, as I said earlier, I was surprised that Jeff kept his cool for as long as he did. Were I in his place, I think I would have done what Jeff only said. Accusing a professional player of cheating is about the worst thing you can possibly say about him, in my opinion. Saying a player didn't ante, then saying, "I don't trust you, sir!" infers that he intentionally didn't ante, and that is equivalent to cheating.
Next, what was Prahlad's motivation for this ongoing outburst? The obvious is that is what he thought happened. The thing is, if this were the case, why would he carry on to the extent that he did. Missing a single ante wasn't all that big of a deal in this circumstance. Granted, $5,000 is a great deal of money, but in a tournament, in which you can't cash out and most everyone has several hundred times that much, it isn't all that relevant.
Not only that, but what did he think was going to happen after Jeff denied it 10 times? Was Jeff was going to crack the 11th time and admit that he stole an ante? Maybe Prahlad secretly wished he could be Vic Mackey, working over a suspect in the interrogation room.
The other possibility that has been brought up is that Prahlad saw Jeff as one of the only other good players left in the tournament, and he was trying to put him on tilt and get him knocked out of the tournament. If this is so, it was a stupid tactic. Jeff isn't the type of player who is so emotionally unstable that he'd allow something stupid to cost him $12 million, not to mention that this would be unsportsmanlike conduct.
Don't get me wrong, one of my favorite plays is to either make a comment or laugh about a hand that certain players turn over, knowing that it might unnerve them. That, however, is a far cry from wreaking havoc and slandering a fellow player. Whatever Prahlad's motivation, I think he should be ashamed of himself for his behavior.
That brings me to my final question: What should the
WSOP staff have done to end this situation? Prahlad, obviously, blatantly ignored the order of the floorman to drop it. Why wasn't he given a penalty? He continually disrupted the tournament even after he was specifically told to cease and desist his comments. The fact that he was groundlessly slandering another player should have been enough for a timeout.
If you're wondering if Jeff was in fact guilty of not anteing, the tape exonerated him, as it showed that he did in fact ante up. That brings up one more question for me: I wonder if Prahlad apologized to Jeff?
